Super Superlatives

 

Superlatives should be seldom used. They lose their power when deployed frivolously. We are far too inflationary when we assign epic, awesome, amazing, incredible, or dropping-the-mic with careless frequency. How do we know if something is truly epic, awesome, amazing, incredible, or worthy of a mic drop?

This is a major curse of our age. Semantic inflation.

- everything is breaking-news

- honorary degrees are handed out like cheap candy

- businesses manufacture more five-star rewards to congratulate themselves

- in every sport more teams than ever make the playoffs.

Meaning, in all cases, is diminished.

Back to superlatives. The one word we should worry the most about adding extra-stuff to is Love. Love is the strongest of all words, the ultimate compliment. God is love. And, therefore, to

abuse or

overuse or

misuse

LOVE,

is to “take Love’s Name in vain” (Exodus 20).

 If we love, love, love pumpkin spiced lattes, Instagram posts, and Chicago Navy Pier, what word do we have for our children? When we ”love your presentation” and “love those shoes” and “love the eggplant parmigiana” what word do we use for God?

 Overuse of language, of course, is not the real problem, but underuse of actual love. I’m wondering, however, if a deeply needed restoration of love’s power ought to include disciplined caution and intentionality in its use.

 “I love you”, should, indeed, be the superlative. The absolute.  “For Love so God the world that He gave”…  

The Post Post-Modern Religion

 

 …and the Postmodern Preacher begin preaching and saying, “He nailed it to his cross”.

And then he stops there.

And the Postmodern Preacher says, “You just heard the Word, now you are free from the burden of the law”.

And the Postmodern Christian went home.

 

And then the Postmodern Christian calls his Postmodern Preacher from the jail saying, "Help me Preacher, help me, I'm in jail!"

And the Postmodern Preacher asks, "Why are you in jail?" 

And the Postmodern Christian declares, "I'm a thief, free from the burden of the law as you said, but here." 

And the Postmodern Preacher says, "That's OK, Jesus loves you!" 

And the Postmodern Christians replies, "Thank you Preacher... I feel so much better." 

 

And the Postmodern Christian calls the Preacher again saying: "Hey Preacher, I'm still in jail." 

And the Postmodern Preacher says, "That's OK... you are not under the law, but under grace." 

And the Postmodern Christians replies, "Oh yeah, thank you Preacher... Halleluiah!" 

 

And the Postmodern Christian calls the Preacher a third time saying, "Hey Preacher, I'm still in jail." 

And the Postmodern Preacher declares, "That's OK... you know, there is no condemnation for those who are in Jesus."

And the Postmodern Christians replies, "WOW!  Preacher... you are wonderful!  I'm gonna tell all my prison-mates to come to your church."

 

PS. Do you see something wrong about this dialogue? Write your answer here: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________